Shadows at Midnight

Jennings (Pursuit) starts this well-plotted romantic suspense novel with a literal bang: gunfire and explosions outside an American embassy in a fictional West African country. Defense analyst Claire Day and Marine Daniel Weston are nearly killed when suspiciously well-armed rebels attack. A year later, Claire has emerged from a three-month coma with no clear memory of the bombing, only nightmares with a brown-haired man protecting her. When she sees Dan on TV, she flies to Washington, D.C., to see if he can help with her lost memory. Dan thought she died in the attack, and he's thrilled this fantastic woman is alive. But someone is out to silence any memories she may have of the bombing, and soon they're facing danger together again. Occasionally weak and repetitive prose is the only snag to this tale of murder, arson, and sex. (Aug.)